In 1997, Danish dance act Aphex Twin made considerable waves with this bleak but memorable horror movie masquerading as a music video.

Borrowing the phrase ‘come to Daddy’ from Hellraiser, it concerns broken childhoods and a new, terrifying god borne from the screams of a dead TV screen.

There’s so much nightmarish about it, the despair of the tower blocks, the hapless grandma and her dog. The old lady’s dog appears to start all the trouble by weeing on the broken TV in the first place. What is it with dog wee resurrecting horror icons? It crawls out and grows really fast, and then screams at this poor old lady for a good minute….

Weird. That’s even without getting into all the kids with the same face of Richard D Jams (Aphex Twin himself). They gather round the newly born creature, which has an Aphex Twin face and a Doug Jones/monster from Rec-type body, almost feminine, definitely terrifying.

It sure sounds Satanic, or devilish, and he plays up that look here. An urban pact with the devil, this is a nightmarish video embodying a guttural scream of outrage at our own deranged existence. In 1997, it was still preferable to the Spice Girls….

Trouble Youth (2018)

What’s worse than a school shooter? Well, nothing. But this looks more like something out of Buffy’s monster killing high school nightmares. It’d be a shame to spoil any more, so please enjoy this troubling demonic delight.

This also rounds off the devil worshipping theme this month (though expect some cultish goodness in September) we’re finishing up with this very bite-size but very effective piece from CryptTV, where nothing’s quite how it first appears. But it is wicked-good.

Don’t Move (2013) – short horror film

‘Don’t Move’ is the 8th slice in Bloody Cuts’ anthology of short horror films, made by a team of UK film-makers on low budgets.

Directed by Anthony Melton, Produced by Ben Franklin and written by David Scullion it stars Rachel Bright and Jake Hendriks alongside Kate Braithwaite, Beth Cooper, Ian Whyte, Calvin Dean and Martin Skipper.

In keeping with the ‘devil deals gone wrong’ theme this August, we take a quickie look at a great short film from 2013.

Set immediately after a summoning spell on the Ouija goes horribly wrong, with one person’s heart already ripped out, we join the remaining friends as they play silent statues, trying to survive the hideous demon they’ve (accidentally?) summoned.

The creature is a special effects joy both in its solid form and its eerie, smoky, slithering one too, stalking the survivors. It won’t leave yet because the rules are very clear. It must take five souls with it, and only one of them may survive. As its starts it’s one down, four to go…luckily, it can’t really see you. Unless of course, you move, or make any noise…

Like ‘Don’t Breathe’ and ‘A Quiet Place’, keeping silent is going to save you…but someone else might screw that all up. What’s brilliant about this is that the tension really comes down to human selfishness. Putting aside whether people who’d summon a demon, especially one with this type of M.O., are trustworthy in the first place, what ensues is a tense, gunslinger-esque shootout as mobile phones and loud noises are used to get another person in the demon’s sights. Or lack of sight. They get away with whispering between them slightly too much, but this demon might easily be toying with them too.

Reiterating once again that messing with demons only brings destruction and chaos, ‘Don’t Move’ is a schlocky fun ride, gleefully tense and a gory contrast to last week’s more austere Paper Game short film.

What have we learned so far this month? Don’t make a deal with the devil or any of his demony friends! Or sit in any suspicious chairs! What have we learned from this video? Maybe just don’t speak to them, either. There’s currently a trend at for performing ‘Rituals’ often held at 3am, you’re supposed to follow a series of strict instructions (there’s a handy guide to performing these correctly at The Ghost in My Machine). These get you in touch with the other side, and supposedly take you everywhere from other dimensions (lifts and taxi drivers) to speaking with demons (mostly involving stairs, mirrors and candles).

Ghost Paper is very loosely based on one of these rituals, and the titular game involves writing questions to an entity on a piece of paper, then performing a series of knocks, and waiting for it to take it from you under the door. If something spooky is passing or can be bothered to respond, you should then have an interesting back-and-forth with the unknown.

This short film uses the urban myth to create a terrifying horror short, elegantly bringing the dangerous ritual to its inevitable conclusion. Young Mackenzie is beautifully played by Kiki Zorzi, convincingly conveying Mackenzie’s apprehension, curiosity and terror as the game’s stakes escalate. It’s uncluttered and very effectively pared down. No gratuitous jump scares, here, this benefits from a quiet, ideally dark room, but give it its five minutes and you’ll soon enjoy a quality piece of modern horror.

Seeing exploitation horror done right is always a pleasure and ‘Slut’ (which won best student short at Screamfest 2014.) is certainly up there. At just 20 minutes long, this 1970s-set thriller plays cleverly with its Little Red Riding Hood stalker theme, creating a kick-ass story in the process.

Poor bespectacled Maddy just wants to be seen as an attractive teenage girl in her dust bowl town, but is treated as a complete joke by the other teenagers at the RollerRink. However, after dressing up to compete with the prettiest girl in town, Maddy soon catches the wrong sort of attention.

Maddy is sympathetic and the film doesn’t waste much time making the most of the situation. This is a smart, well made nod to the 1970s grindhouse, classics that mostly surpasses the exploitation cliches it comes from. Highly recommended.

Funding Deadline: 5th July 2013Funding Goal: £5,000What is it?: 95% finished, feature-length horror film.Why does the Eyeball love it and want to have its freaky kids?
We’re intrigued by the giggling insanity of the lead actress, and want to know the creepy significance of the number eleven.